Centro Si Bread Pudding

Chilly weather has finally hit Laredo! And this recipe is perfect for it. The best part about bread pudding is it can be made with kitchen scraps and things you probably already have in your pantry. But this recipe is a little more of a "bougie" version, using croissants instead of stale bread. You gotta spoil yourself sometimes, right?!

Creme anglaise sauce recipe is also included. It gives this bread pudding just the right kind of sweet spice it needs. This sauce requires a little more of an intermediate skill set but is totally worth it.

Ingredients

• 5 eggs
• 2 cups heavy cream (or milk)
• 3-4 cups buttered croissants (or stale bread)
• 1 tbsp. cinnamon
• 2 cups white sugar
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/4 cups light brown sugar
• 1 cup chopped toasted pecans
• 1/4 cups kahlua or rum

Add sugar, eggs, cream, vanilla, brown sugar and kahlua in a bowl. Mix in cut croissant chunks, soak bread in mixture, and add pecans as well. Soak about 10-20 minutes, depending on bread density until saturated. Pour into loaf or cake pan. Bake at 325 for 45 minutes to 1 hour.

Creme Anglaise Sauce 

Ingredients

• 2 egg yolks
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 tsp. vanilla

Put cream on stove in sauce pot to warm up. Pour in half of your sugar, (the other half will go into egg yolks.) Heat cream until warm, but not boiling.  Throw remaining sugar into egg yolks and whisk together. Once cream is warmed, throw a splash of cream into egg mixture and whisk. Throw another splash until you've splashed about a cup of cream, then steadily pour the rest while whisking. Add vanilla. Once combined, place mixture back in pot on very low heat. Stir with spatula making sure to get all edges of pot, sides and bottom so that no sauce burns. Stir until thickened.